John Oliver Tackles Testing Mania
On "Last Week Tonight" comedian John Oliver takes a long, critical, and humorous look at nearly everything that's wrong with standardized testing in American schools....
Education Policy
Crime and Punishment for Atlanta Educators
As a teacher, I do not tolerate cheating by my students, but I also take responsibility for creating assessment conditions that minimize cheating. Will any policy makers accept responsibility for the ...
CalTURN Blog Posts
The labor-management teams at this CalTURN meeting are sharing successes and lessons learned as they go along in this evolving policy landscape. ...
Charter Schools and Segregation
The concept of choice is hard to argue with - everyone likes choice, and it shouldn't only be reserved for the wealthy; the execution of that idea in policy is a challenging proposition fraught with r...
Does Political “Cover” Produce Effective Policy?
We don't go into teaching to raise test scores; we go into teaching to promote a much wider variety of skills that are poorly measured by tests, if they're measured at all....
State Policies Give California Window of Opportunity
The continuity in state leadership for education means California likely has a chance to see the effects of recent policy changes playing out over a longer time frame, with less disruption....
Learning Forward Conference Wrap-Up
Better late than never, and following a tragic loss of an unsaved draft, this post will conclude my review of session at the Learning Forward Conference in Nashville. I attended Monday through Wednes...
New Network to Offer Guidance on School Discipline
I don't know anyone who wants to see high rates of suspensions and expulsions. However, school personnel need sufficient time, training, and resources to better support students, and to alter their ow...
VAM on Trial (Re-posted from InterACT)
In New York right now, a teacher is suing the state over the use of value-added measures in teacher evaluations, claiming that the current system “actually punishes excellence in education through a...
Principals Need Support Too
Here’s a short but important story from Marketplace, the business radio program from American Public Media: “The high cost of principal turnover” http://www.marketplace.org/topics/ed...